Anyone doing Architectural Models?

[Bill Jermyn]

Does anyone have any experience in laser cutting pieces for architectural models? Is it competitive vs hand cutting? Quality? What materials are used? Any tips appreciated.

[David Fairfield]

Hi Bill

Its what I do. A laser is like having 10 hyper-skilled employees that work overtime and never surf porn on the internet.

It cuts standard building materials, wood, plywood, card, acrylic. It will also cut sheet styrene, using special methods. The speed, extreme precision and perfect repeatability is beyond anything possible with hand cutting.

Get one, you'll thank me :) Welcome to the creek.

Dave

[Ben Levesque]

I recommend going through the Made on Epilog I & II threads!
You will see what can be done regarding all kind of structures.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=85546&highlight=made+Epilog

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=89313&highlight=made+Epilog

Ben

[Bill Jermyn]

I'm thinking of approaching architects, and I was wondering what materials they tend to use so I could do some tests/samples.

[Rodne Gold]

I do a lot of cutting and engraving for arch moddlers ...some for really big projects ..
Firstly , you will normally get the plans etc in Autocad and they arent that useable , so you now have to train the draftsmen as to what and how you need the templates or drawings.
the materials used vary big time and also many materials can be used for construction.
Paper , wood , veneers , cardstock , abs , thin perspex , cork , vinyls (sign vinyl) , balsa etc etc.
for eg , a red tiled spanish villa type roof would be brick red cardstock , laser engraved with tiling detial and then die cut with tabs to make construction easier.
If you want to get ino this market you have to advise what materials and make it real easy for assembly with slots and tabs and compensation for wall thicknesses etc. If you make it easy for the architect , they will use you a lot.
You can charge a lot of money for cheap components.

Be prepared for changes and rush jobs , these models are changing all the time as ppl see stuff in 3d. There are alos markets in film production , still add shots etc. These ppl pay big money.
the most money to be made is models for developers and development where they sell from the model.
Models vary in realism , some are conceptual things , some are detailed down to the paint finish in basement loo.
Best for a first model is to work with an experienced model maker and designer ..that way he can see the potential of your machine and will come up with novel and clever ideas and you can feed off him.
It's a nice niche speciality field.. but you gotta know your oats well.
You must look at pricing , it's easy to spend 1/2 an hr fixing the dwgs you got , and 3 mins cutting, so a per minute charge isnt the best..price on a per drawing basis.
DO NOT let your customer step and repeat if you doing multiples (like window frames)..you just want one and you will do the rest.
make your customer aware of what material and table sizes are so as to stop em designing over the limits
Give it a bash.. treat your first small 3 or 4 as school fees

[Mike Null]

My experience is very limited with arch. drawings but Rodney is spot on. My only arch. project was for some construction at the local zoo and the donor wanted to see a model first.

As Rodney said, once I fixed the auto cad drawings, which took far more time than the cutting, the job was a breeze.

In this case we used oil board which would be painted by the model maker.

It was very profitable with short cutting times and low material costs.

[Rodne Gold]

The advice I will give further is not to try build the models yourself. This is extremely time consuming. However some of the models we assisted on in repect of cutting etc cost the developers in excess of $60 000.....so it seems there is VERY good money if you are prepared to build it....
We combine our machinery...for example we use our CnC Overhead router to machine the base and its topographical contours , we use the laser for cutting , we use a digital large format print and cut machine to make realistic transfers that go atop cut parts and so on.
Only real issue is that it's not "continuous" business , it's sporadic and there are times when you might be busy with 3 models and then a 3 month lean period.

[Bill Jermyn]

Thanks everyone, I'll try to make contact with the model makers and do some experimenting.